Chapter 21

Back in the streets of LazyTown, Pixel and Trixie stood in a metal chamber as a group of human sized rock creatures slowly approached them. Pixel's hands remained firmly on top of a nearby control panel, ready for action.

"Oh, look." Trixie mocked. "They want to play with us."

Pixel giggled. "Really? Okay!"

Pressing a button on the panel, Pixel activated a rotating fan of sledgehammers which immediately took to smashing through the creatures and leveling them to the ground.

"Come on." Pixel anticipated. "Go on and say it."

Trixie then giggled. "You're a genius!"

Meanwhile, Sportacus helped Robbie wheel in one of the villain's old inventions as Ziggy stood on standby. After flipping the switch, Robbie gave Ziggy the thumbs up.

"Okay, Twiggy!" Robbie said. "You're good to go!"

"It's Ziggy!" The little boy rolled his eyes back. "Okay then… Taffy!"

Just then, a large block of taffy shot through a rock minion's chest as the others slowly approached. The young candy lover took a chunk of taffy and put it in his mouth then repeated the words over and over.

"Taffy!" He continued. "Taffy! Taffy! Taffy! Taffy!"

A barrage of multicolored taffy blocks then rained down on Remus' army, knocking some over and conjoining others together. Ziggy continued this process as Robbie pat himself on the back.

"Sometimes being bad does pay off." He sighed satisfyingly.

Sportacus shook his head. "Do you really want to go into all that right now?"

"…No."

Along the battlefield, Astral and his brothers of the cloth swung their battle staffs around while Ma and Jasper made some damage of their own. Leading another catapult wave was Dramatik, who stood atop one of the buildings while wearing a Napoleonic-style French uniform.

"Aim towards thy enemy!" He commanded. "And don't stop until you see the whites of their eyes!"

"They don't have eyes!" One of the LazyTowners pointed out.

"Oh, will you just launch already!?"

Ms. Busybody ran along the chaos, trying to get the children to safety. "Come on, kids! Come with me!" She turned around and noticed they were heading towards the fight instead, completely ignoring her. "Oh, why do I even bother?"

Inside the black tower, Remus stood in front of the energy meter as it started to rise. Determined to not let the town regain its activeness, Remus held out his amulet and emitted a powerful beam of energy.

Outside, the clouds started to roll in as an even more powerful fog coverage dwarfed that of HazyTown's. The Trinity was covered in a thick haze but they didn't stop fighting. Remus was now ready to smother them all with eternal laziness, haziness and downright craziness as the battle raged on out in the streets.

Stingy flipped over in his car and looked around in the fog, searching for his friends. "Hey! Where are you!? Where did this come from!? Hello?"

Sportacus rushed up to Astral and helped him thwart off one of Remus' minions. Afterwards, the old man looked up and could see the sun starting to fade out of view.

"What's going on?" Sportacus asked him. "Where did this fog come from?"

"It's Remus. He's choking the town." Astral explained. "If my suspicions are correct, he's going to do to your town what he did to mine. And quite possibly the same to CrazyTown."

A roughed up Professor wobbled towards them. "Oh, man. Thith ith heavy. I mean, really, really heavy. I don't like thith."

Just then, Sportacus' air glider came soaring through the mist with a very familiar pink-figure riding it. With a single bound, a costumed Stephanie deflected an oncoming clump of rock and landed next to her friends as they all regrouped in the center of the town.

"Stephanie?" Trixie scratched her head. "Is that you?"

"SportaStephanie you mean!" She winked at them.

"Oh not this again! How many times do I have to tell you!? I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!"

Stephanie shook her head. "I know, Trixie. But this isn't about you. I just wanted to get in the spirit of things, you know?"

A small explosion of dirt and rock startled the group as Robbie looked up at towering pillar of stone. "You wanna get into the spirit later? I think we've got bigger problems to worry about!"

"He's right!" A familiar looking pink rabbit said as he rode in on a giant chicken. "We've gotta do somethin' about this lousy fog!"

"Bob! Hen Mother!" Stephanie pet the two animals.

"Save the reunion for later, Pinky!" Robbie nagged.

"Yeah!" Stingy nodded. "How are we going to get rid of this fog?"

Astral then got an idea. "Wait! The sunlight! It overpowers the fog. If we can somehow separate the clouds, the sun's rays will pierce through the fog and eliminate it for good."

The Professor nodded. "Agreed. But how are we gonna do that? I doubt we have anything equipped for that thort of thing."

Sportacus grinned. "Oh, I think I can work something out."

As the battle continued, Remus remained inside the mayor's office within the tower and watched as the town became consumed in the blanket of fog.

"Yes." He grinned. "You'll all pay for this."

In the blink of an eye, Sportacus' airship came piercing through the dark clouds and startled the evil dictator. He breathed heavily and stuck his head out to see where the large blimp was going.

"Where did that come from!?"

Inside the ship, Sportacus carefully piloted the large machine as Stephanie activated the lowering platform. Connecting a line of rope to her belt, Stephanie gave one last look at Sportacus before heading down.

"You got this, Sportacus?" She asked.

The hero nodded. "No problem. You just be careful."

Giving him the thumbs up, Stephanie slowly descended from the airship and held onto the metallic rod as Sportacus piloted the machine towards the tower. The pink superhero then grabbed an end of the rope and managed to lasso it around one of the building's many black spikes. Stephanie then climbed over the rod and managed to make it on top of one of the ship's fins.

"Okay, Remus." She said to herself. "Here I come."

The young girl then ran along the sides of the airship while holding onto her rope then jumped off once the window to the mayor's office was in view.

"Oh, what was I thinking!?" She cried as she crashed through the window and rolled along the ground.

Remus backed away and held his amulet out. "You again!"

"Hey, Retard…" Stephanie said out of breath as she untied the rope from her belt. "Remember me? The little pink demon?"

"It's Remus Tard! And If you've come to stop me, you're out of luck."

Stephanie just grinned. "Oh yeah? Why?"

"You never learn, do you!?" Remus finally lost his temper as the gem in the amulet started to glow its eerie green haze. "Don't you get it, little girl!? I am the beginning and the end of LazyTown! I am all powerful! There's no way you can save your friends! There's no way you can save your town! And there is definitely no way you can stop me!"

"Wrong, Remus! Because here in LazyTown… There's always a way!" Stephanie exclaimed as she held out the fully charged Trinity crystal.

"The Trinity crystal?" Remus' jaw dropped as he blasted towards the young girl.

Stephanie held onto the crystal and deflected Remus' beam with her own. The pink and green waves of energy practically blinded them but neither one refused to back down. As their energies crossed, a pattern began to develop throughout LazyTown. Remus' rock giants began to crumble up and turn to dust as the rock pillars returned to the ground. And at long last, Milford returned back to normal as the rock entrapping his body finally crumbled off.

"Oh dear…" The man shook his head as he witnessed the battle surrounding him. "What's going on?"

"Milford!" Bessie cried as she was being chased by one of the minions. "Milford! Save me! Save me!"

"Ms. Busybody?" The man was perplexed as to why she was being chased around by a creature made entirely of rock.

Then, much to the man's horror, Ms. Busybody was knocked down as the creature slowly approached her to make the kill. Furious, Milford balled up his fist and charged for the assailant.

"You leave my woman alone!" He demanded as he wrestled around with Remus' goon.

Meanwhile, Sportacus continued flying his airship through the clouds when he noticed a powerful storm forming in the middle.

"Computer." He started. "Prepare to divert all power to the fans and rotate them to the side of the ship."

"Power has been diverted." The computer responded.

"All right. In order to get this just right, I'm going to have to go through the eye of the storm."

"No, Sportacus!" The computer protested. "Don't do it! It's a suicide mission."

"I have no other choice."

"Please, Sportacus. I love you."

"Stiff upper modem, old girl. We'll make it through. Begin fan rotation."

The airship's fans rotated to the sides just as Sportacus had commanded. In no time at all, the above-average hero managed to pilot his blimp through the eye of the storm and separate the clouds from the sky. As the sunlight poured in, Remus' curse was lifted thus eliminating the powerful fog from LazyTown for good.

"He did it!" Ziggy jumped for joy. "Sportacus did it!"

"We won?" Stingy looked around. "We won! I can't believe it! We won!"

Pixel then pointed out to the black tower, which was brimming with pink and green energies. "Almost, Ziggy. Almost."

Stephanie and Remus remained in place, holding their energy sources towards each other and unleashing all their magic. Remus, however, was beginning to tire as he noticed Stephanie slowly moving forward.

"No…" He strained. "You can't win!"

"Of course I can…" She continued struggling forward. "It's over, Remus."

The pink energy emanating from the Trinity crystal had proven to be so powerful that it shattered the green gem within Remus' amulet and pushed the man back. As the green beam of light died out, another chain reaction spread out across the town and caused another tremor. With a loud boom, Remus' black tower slowly collapsed into the ground and lowered the mayor's office back to where it stood originally. The residents of the Trinity watched in awe as a cloud of dust shrouded the building and lingered on for quite a bit.

Sportacus finally made it back to the surface and rushed over to the pile of rubble surrounding the town hall. Eventually everyone went in to help him search for Stephanie.

"Stephanie!" Sportacus called out as he lifted a black rock. "Stephanie? Stephanie, can you hear me?"

"Stephanie!" Ziggy dug through.

"Oh dear." Milford's bottom lip started to tremble. "Don't tell me she was in there."

"Well I was!" Stephanie called out as she repelled from the rope as it dangled from Sportacus' airship. "But it's a good thing Sportacus flew past the tower as it fell, otherwise I might not have been able to hitch a ride!"

Milford then lovingly wrapped his arms around his niece. "Oh, Stephanie! You had me worried for a moment!"

"Sorry, uncle. I'm just glad to see you're back to normal."

"That wath thpectacular!" The Professor exclaimed. "Amathing! Thtupendouth!"

"Well done, Stephanie." Astral bowed his head. "You have restored the balance."

Stephanie juggled the Trinity crystal in her hand one last time before it finally separated into its three components. She then handed the CrazyTown crystal to the Professor and the HazyTown crystal to Astral and finally tossed Sportacus his own.

"Thanks, everybody." She smiled. "For everything."

Astral shook his head. "No. Thank you, young Stephanie. You have lifted the curse of Number Nine and freed us all from his tyranny."

"Yeah, what he said!" Bob coughed up some phlegm. "Jeez, I need a drink. Or a carrot. Preferably both!"

"Hey, check this out!" Trixie called out as she unearthed an old man from the rubble. "It's Remus!"

Remus was now old and frail yet still alive. His face was severely wrinkled and covered with liver spots while his smooth, blond locks were replaced with thin, worn-out white strands.

"Remus?" Robbie helped the old man up. "Is that you?"

"Huh!?" Remus griped. "Is that you, Billy?"

"Robbie, actually."

"What!? Speak up, son! I can't hear you!" The old man then coughed harshly and caused Robbie to grimace. "Where's my amulet? I need it!"

Astral tossed the gold amulet over to Stephanie. "Keep it. He won't be needing it anytime soon."

"Thanks." She giggled. "But what are we going to do with him?"

"Don't worry." Ms. Busybody said. "I've got an idea."

♠♠♠♠♠

"I'll get you for this, LazyTown! You haven't seen the last of me!" Remus shouted from behind a window. "I swear on your children's children's children, uhh…. Children… you haven't seen the last of me! No, wait… I already said that."

Just then, a man in a white uniform sat Remus down in his wheelchair and turned him around. "Come on, Mr. Tard. It's time for your dinner."

"Dinner? Oh boy! Applesauce and medicine! Can I get extra penicillin? Please?"

"We'll see, Mr. Tard." The orderly chuckled as he wheeled the old man along the halls of Lazy Hills Retirement home.

EPILOGUE…

Once the Trinity had separated back to their respective places and all goodbyes had been said, a few secrets had been uncovered.

It turns out that the infant Remus saw drift away those many years ago and painfully lingered on in his memory was none other than the Professor. He had drifted along the LazyTown pond which led to the Yawn River, where he eventually ended up in CrazyTown. He was taken in by a loving family and lived there for a while before Remus made his brief visit there.

The road in CrazyTown was finally repaired and for the first time in a long time, the insane residents were able to travel beyond their city limits and explore the world around them.

The wall in HazyTown was finally knocked down and Bob found a home living amongst the monks. But seeing as how his lifestyle conflicted their beliefs, he went back to the Cave of Despair and made a fortune turning it into a tourist attraction.

In LazyTown, Milford Meanswell was reelected yet again as mayor of the fine town. No one had any objections. In their eyes, Milford was and always will be the one true mayor of LazyTown.

The townspeople got together for a celebration for their mayor and while they were enjoying themselves, Stephanie noticed someone wasn't there to join in on the festivities.

"Stephanie?" Sportacus gave her a concerned look. "Is something wrong?"

"Well not really…" She looked around the town center, where several banners and streamers hung from the various buildings. "I'll be back."

"Hey, Stephanie!" Ziggy shouted. "You're gonna miss out on the cake!"

"Let her go." Stingy said. "More cake for me. Let's see… this is mine… this is mine… that's mine, too…"

♠♠♠♠

Inside his lair, Robbie struggled to fall asleep on his fuzzy orange chair but something wouldn't let him. There was hardly any noise coming from the surface but for some strange reason, he just couldn't sleep.

"What's wrong with me!?" He griped. "I'm so sleepy! But I can't sleep! Why!?"

"Having trouble?" Stephanie startled the man.

"What are you doing here!? Shouldn't you be up there having a good time and eating cake?"

"Not without all my friends."

"What happened? Sportadork didn't get an invite?"

"Oh, he got one. And so did you, Robbie."

"What? Really?"

Stephanie nodded. "Yeah. After all… you are one of my friends. Right?"

Robbie thought for a moment. "Uhh… well, I ..." He then sighed. "Sure, kid. Of course I am."

"Well then, come on!" She pulled him by the wrist. "We don't want to miss out on the cake!"

"Just hold on a minute!" He grumpily shook away from her grasp. "There's something I gotta know. You went through all that trouble, traveling through the Trinity and getting in all sorts of crazy predicaments and you did it all to save this town? Why? I would have just moved to CrazyTown or something!"

"We're different, I suppose. But there's one thing we have in common. We both risked our necks. After all, weren't you the one who made sure I went to the right place and didn't get hurt? Well, for the most part."

Robbie froze in place. He knew she was right. "That's different! You wanted to prove to those brats you were a hero and you did! So there!"

Stephanie just smiled as she gave him a hug. "You turned out to be one yourself, you know."

"Oh… whatever."

And that is…

THE END

Okay, I promised myself I wouldn't cry over this but… wait. I'm not crying. Never mind. No, seriously. I can't. No tear ducts. My thanks to everyone who took the time to read and review my story. They're the fuel to my fire, if you know what I mean. And I'll be back soon with another story. Though I should warn you. If you're already aware of the stuff I'm capable of, it just might be another "crack fic" as some of you have come to call them. Heheh… that's funny. Who knows? I might not ever write again. This could quite possibly be my last fic ever… though probably not.